Description of the finger mechanical load of climbers of different levels during different hand grips in sport climbing

Abstract

Currently, direct empirical evidence exists about the amount of mechanical load that climbers apply to each finger during several hand grips specific to sport climbing, but not yet in a specific hanging position.

The objectives of this study are a) to draw and build a solid and rigid support that simulates the real action of a hand grip in a hanging position in sport climbing, to enable the measurement of the mechanical load endured by the fingers in a hanging position and in addition, b) to describe the distribution of mechanical load among fingers as a function of the level of climbing during different hand grips in a hanging position.

Thirty young male participants took part in the initial phase of reliability of the measurements, while another 64 male climbers participated in the subsequent study phase to check the relations between independent and dependent variables. The level of on sight climbing and the total practice experience were used to define the groups. The research task consisted of performing hanging positions on the created support in order to measure the mechanical load endured by the fingers in the three most characteristic hand grips in climbing (crimp, half crimp and slope). It has been concluded that the performance level of the climbers had no influence on the production of a pattern of differentiated finger mechanical load during the research task.

Keywords:

• sport climbing
• force sharing
• hand grip
• mechanical load
• finger strength